Dr. John M. Grunsfeld has been appointed Deputy Director of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI). STScI is the science operations center for NASA's orbiting Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope planned to be launched in 2014.

A veteran of five space flights, including three missions to service the Hubble Space Telescope – STS-103 in Dec. 1999, STS-109 in March 2002, and STS-125 in May 2009 – Grunsfeld has logged over 835 hours in space, including nearly 60 hours of Extravehicular Activity during eight space walks. He served as the NASA Chief Scientist detailed to NASA Headquarters in 2003-2004, where he helped develop the President's Vision for Space Exploration.

His research has covered X-ray and gamma-ray astronomy, high-energy cosmic ray studies, and development of new detectors and instrumentation. Grunsfeld has conducted observations of the far-ultraviolet spectra of faint astronomical objects and the polarization of ultraviolet light coming from stars and distant galaxies.